Residents impacted by the Valley Link Transmission project continue to gather and voice concerns about the proposed route and the potential threat to the community and the surrounding landscape. Updated routes were released in May, significantly increasing the proposed project’s proximity to Blue Ridge Shores residential community.

The Blue Ridge Shores Valley Link Action Committee (BRS VLAC) hosted a community town hall on Monday, June 8, at the BRS Community Center to inform residents about the current status of the project, the upcoming regulatory process before the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) and how community members can make their concerns heard.

Valley Link is a joint venture LLC between Transource Energy, FirstEnergy Transmission and Dominion Energy established to meet growing electrical demand through a high-voltage power grid infrastructure. The Joshua Falls-to-Yeat project is a proposed $1 billion 765-kilovolt (kV) transmission line spanning 115 miles across Central Virginia.

PJM Interconnection is an independent organization that manages the power grid for 13 states and the District of Columbia. PJM approved the Valley Link Transmission Project as a public necessity to address rising energy demand and directed the joint venture to construct and operate the system.

Initial routes proposed in March placed the line within 1 mile of Fairview Rd on the southeastern edge of the community. According to BRS VLAC member Rick Kilcoyne, the updated plan brings the power lines within 500 feet of the neighborhood.

“The whole lake is within a mile box of this power line,” he explained. “Now it’s a high impact for Blue Ridge Shores.”

The committee identified four areas of concern: impact on viewshed, property values, health risks and other community concerns.

Committee members took drone reverse point-of-view video taken at an altitude of 160 feet from the southeast edge of BRS to an approximate location of where one of the towers is expected to be located. Concerned residents shared that the towers will be visible from a high density of the lakeside homes, as well as from the water.

Valley Link is proposing steel lattice structures between 135 and 160 feet tall to support the 765-kV lines.

BRS property values are directly tied to the lake views and natural rural character, committee members said. Past research conducted on waterfront property has further revealed that they suffer disproportionately larger losses than inland property when these views become obstructed or industrialized as well.

“High voltage transmission lines are shown to reduce nearby residential property values by 2 to 9% on average,” Kilcoyne said. “Properties directly adjacent are seeing reductions as high as 15 to 25%.”

The committee also addressed health concerns, noting that previous research reports weak statistical correlations between the towers and adverse health effects. International Agency for Research on Cancer data suggests possible carcinogenic risks, though evidence remains inconclusive.

“Making an argument on health from a health perspective isn’t terribly helpful to our cause,” Kilcoyne said. “Valley Link and PGM and all those folks that are building this, they don’t care.”

Additional concerns raised by residents include herbicide use along transmission corridors, possible changes in drainage and aquifer systems due to soil compaction and potential for radio frequency to interfere with wireless connection.

Resident Steve Harper said his primary concern is safety.

“The amount of voltage they’re sending through is more than most places in the country,” he said.

Resident Brian Schwarting questioned the local benefit of the project.

“We get no benefit. There’s absolutely no benefit to Louisa County from anything that’s going through,” he said. “We will be impacted because it will affect land, it will affect people just because they’re going to have towers, power stations and all this stuff in their backyard that they didn’t have before.”

Harper also linked his opposition to the growing number of data centers in Virginia.

“Why are all the data centers continuing to be built in Virginia?” he said. “Now we have companies like AWS [Amazon Web Services] building data centers all over the country, so they have redundancy, safety, and security in case something goes wrong with the grid or with the data center. The problem is they’re failing. They don’t have the connectivity between them. So they’re continuing to build more here.”

The committee emphasized that the most critical period for community involvement will occur during the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) review process.

Valley Link Virginia LLC will file for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity with the SCC in the fall of 2026, initiating an approximately 12-month SCC review process which will include opportunities for written public comment, pre-filed testimony, depositions and evidentiary hearings before SCC hearing examiners.

Formal intervenors, including The Blue Ridge Property Owners Association (BRPOA) and VLAC, will be able to submit testimony, cross-examine Valley Link witnesses and propose alternative routes and conditions for the project.

“The SCC proceeding represents the most critical intervention point for stopping this project, and community participation is essential,” Kilcoyne said.

As the current timeline stands, construction is anticipated to begin in late 2028 and 2029, with the target-in-service line energization date in late 2029. “Once this is done, it’s done,” Kilcoyne said. “It’s going to affect this community forever.”

The committee is facilitating several modes for community involvement, including a digital petition to present as a part of the BRS submittal package before the SCC. Members are also consistently encouraging community members to provide evaluative feedback to the Valley Link Project Team either on their own discretion or by the community statement.

The feedback reads, “The proposed transmission towers, standing approximately 160 feet tall, would be clearly and permanently visible from homes and common areas throughout our neighborhood. This represents a significant and lasting degradation of the character, scenic quality, and property values of our community.”

Valley Link is using GeoVoice, a location-based data-visualization tool that maps public comments geographically. Kilcoyne emphasized the importance of participation, urging residents to make the map as dense as possible to demonstrate the severity of opposition from BRS.

Louisa County Board of Supervisors Louisa District member Manning Woodward also addressed the residents, criticizing the disparities between Valley Link’s stated priorities and the updated route.

“One of the things that [Valley Link] pointed out in first discussions at the open houses was, ‘We’re very sensitive to areas that have high density,’” he said. “Obviously, that’s not factual because that’s exactly the opposite of what they did to you folks over here.”

Woodward said that Lousia County is in the process of communicating with PJM to express its opposition to the Valley Link project, and has joined a broader regional effort.

A regional coalition was formed to oppose Valley Link, and Louisa County is working with Goochland, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Orange and Spotsylvania to formally fight the project. The coalition has hired Dale Mullen, a Richmond-based attorney with prior ties to Louisa County, to advocate for its legal efforts.

The coalition has additionally been recognized by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and will be notified of developments and given channels for formal response and participation throughout further stages of the project.

Louisa, Goochland and Buckingham counties have also collectively committed to funding up to $250,000 toward legal opposition. The coalition has been recognized by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

“I agree that it’s really important for as many people to be as vocal as they can be. To show up at the meetings online, let them know, and make comments. If we just sit back, it’s going to come right through here,” Woodward said. “I can promise you, your board supervisors, all seven of us are standing strong against this, and we will continue to do so.”